Liquid crystal display

ABSTRACT

A liquid crystal display includes: a first substrate including a first through-hole; a second substrate facing the first substrate and including a second through-hole corresponding to the first through-hole; a sealant coupling the first substrate and the second substrate; a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; a spacer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a supporting assistance member including a third through-hole connected to the first through-hole and the second through-hole, wherein the supporting assistance member includes a first supporting assistance member made with the same material as the spacer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2011-0019395 filed on Mar. 04, 2011, which is herebyincorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field

The following description relates to an apparatus including a liquidcrystal display.

2. Discussion of the Background

Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are one of the most widely used flatpanel displays, and an LCD includes a pair of panels provided withfield-generating electrodes and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposedbetween the two panels. The LCD displays images by applying voltages tothe field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LClayer that determines the orientation of LC molecules therein to adjustpolarization of incident light.

Liquid crystal displays are applied to various portable products such asmobile phones, personal portable terminals, and laptops. Portableproducts include devices having a function such as cameras, microphones,and modules. Modules are inserted into a through-hole and are supportedby a sealant.

However, there is a limit in reduction of an area occupied by thesealant supporting the through-hole by a coating characteristic of thesealant when forming the through-hole by using the sealant. Also, when aseparate process to reduce the size of the area is added, themanufacturing process becomes more complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a liquid crystaldisplay and a manufacturing method simplifying a manufacturing processwhile minimizing an area of a supporter supporting a through-hole.

Additional features of the invention will be set forth in thedescription which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention discloses a liquidcrystal display includes: a first substrate including a firstthrough-hole; a second substrate facing the first substrate andincluding a second through-hole corresponding to the first through-hole;a sealant coupling the first substrate and the second substrate; aliquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the secondsubstrate; a spacer disposed between the first substrate and the secondsubstrate; and a supporting assistance member including a thirdthrough-hole connected to the first through-hole and the secondthrough-hole, wherein the supporting assistance member includes a firstsupporting assistance member made with the same material as the spacer.

A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display according to thepresent invention includes: forming a supporting assistance member on afirst substrate, the supporting assistance member comprising a firstthrough-hole; coupling a second substrate and the first substratetogether, the second substrate contacting the supporting assistancemember; and attaching an etching layer to the first substrate and thesecond substrate; forming a second through-hole and a third through-holein the first substrate and the second substrate, respectively, whereinthe second through-hole and the third through-hole are connected to thefirst through-hole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a liquid crystal display according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion A of the liquid crystal displayshown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a manufacturing sequence of a liquidcrystal cell for a liquid crystal display according to an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of area 50 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

The invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown.This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms andshould not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure isthorough, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. In the drawings, the size and relative sizes oflayers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity.

It will be understood that when an element or layer is referred to asbeing “on”, “connected to” or “coupled to” another element or layer, itcan be directly on, connected or coupled to the other element or layeror intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when anelement is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly connected to”or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there are nointervening elements or layers present. Like numbers refer to likeelements throughout. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any andall combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

A liquid crystal display according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1-FIG. 5.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a liquid crystal display according to anexemplary embodiment.

In an exemplary embodiment, a liquid crystal display includes a lowerpanel 100 and an upper panel 200 facing each other and a liquid crystallayer (not shown) interposed there between. The lower panel 100 and theupper panel 200 together form a liquid crystal panel assembly 300.

Meanwhile, in a view point of a plane structure, the lower panel 100 andthe upper panel 200 include a display area 50 for displaying an imageand a peripheral area 60 surrounding it.

The display area 50 includes a plurality of signal lines (not shown) anda plurality of pixels (not shown) connected thereto and arrangedapproximately in a matrix.

The signal lines are provided in the lower panel 100, and include aplurality of gate lines (not shown) transmitting a gate signal (referredto as “scanning signal”) and a plurality of data lines (not shown)transmitting a data voltage.

Each pixel includes a switching element (not shown) such as a thin filmtransistor connected to the signal lines, a pixel electrode (not shown)connected to the switching element and formed in the lower panel 100, acommon electrode (not shown) formed in the upper panel 200, and a liquidcrystal layer (not shown). The pixel electrode receives the data voltagethrough the switching element. The common electrode is formed on thewhole surface of the upper panel 200 and receives the common voltage(“Vcom”).

If the gate line is applied with the gate signal, the data voltage isapplied to the pixel electrode of the lower panel 100 through the dataline, and the pixel electrode forms an electric field to the liquidcrystal layer along with the common electrode of the upper panel 200applied with the common voltage. Thus, the degree of polarization oflight incident to the liquid crystal layer is changed according to theinclination degree of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystallayer and the change of polarization is represented as a change oftransmittance by a polarizer, and thereby a LCD displays an image.

The peripheral area 60 includes a first peripheral area 61 formed inboth the lower panel 100 and the upper panel 200, and a secondperipheral area 62 formed in only the upper panel 200 and exposing thelower panel 100. The second peripheral area 62 is disposed around thefirst peripheral area 61.

A sealant 310 is formed in the first peripheral area 61. The sealant 310combines and fixes the lower panel 100 and the upper panel 200 andencloses the liquid crystal layer. The sealant 310 is formed based onthe circumference of the display area 50, and may include conductiveballs (not shown) having conductivity.

A gate driver 400 and a data driver 500 are positioned in the secondperipheral area 62. The gate driver 400 is connected to the gate linesof the display area 50, and applies gate signals obtained by combining agate-on voltage (“Von”) for turning on a switching element and agate-off voltage (“Voff”) for turning off the switching element to thegate lines. The data driver 500 is connected to the data line of thedisplay area 50 and applies the data voltage to the data lines. The gatedriver 400 and the data driver 500 may be directly mounted on the lowerpanel 100 in the second peripheral area 62 in the form of at least oneintegrated circuit (IC) chip, may be mounted on a flexible printedcircuit film (not shown) as a tape carrier package (TCP) type that isattached to the lower panel 100, or may be integrated in the lower panel100 along with the thin film transistor.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion A of the liquid crystal displayshown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lineIII-III of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a supporting assistance member 30 ispositioned between a lower substrate 110 and an upper substrate 210.

The supporting assistance member 30 is disposed between the sealant 310and a cutting line CL1 of the lower substrate 110, and forms a cylinderincluding a through-hole 10. The supporting assistance member maycontact the sealant 310, as shown in FIG. 2. In an exemplary embodiment,the supporting assistance member 30 may be separated from the sealant310.

In an exemplary embodiment, when forming the cylindrical through-hole10, the pressure applied to the supporting assistance member 30 isuniform compared with a conventional quadrilateral supporting assistancemember having a cylindrical shaped through-hole, in which distances fromthe center of the through-hole to the edges of the quadrangle aredifferent. In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the supportingassistance member 30 may be quadrangular shaped and the through-hole 10may also be a quadrangular shaped. For example, the supportingassistance member 30 and the through-hole 10 may be prism shaped. Byforming the through-hole 10 and the supporting assistance member 30 ofthe same shape, the pressure applied to the supporting assistance member30 when forming the through-hole 10 may be uniformly maintained.

In an exemplary embodiment, the diameter D1 of the through-hole 10 maybe in the range of 3.65 mm to 5.65 mm, and the width D2 of thesupporting assistance member 30 may be in the range of 0.5 mm to 0.7 mm.In an exemplary embodiment, the width of the supporting assistancemember 30 is formed of an area based on the resolution of a lightexposer to reduce the area. However when the supporting assistancemember 30 is less than 0.5 mm, it may not endure the pressure of theupper and the lower substrates. When a material of the supportingassistance member 30 becomes to be stronger, a width of the supportingassistance member 30 may be less than 0.5 mm.

The supporting assistance member 30 contacts a lower substrate 110 andan upper substrate 210 thereby supporting the two substrates. Thesupporting assistance member 30 includes a first supporting assistancemember 30 a, a second supporting assistance member 30 b, and a thirdsupporting assistance 30 c. In exemplary embodiments, the height of thesupporting assistance member 30 may be changed based on a cell gap, andmay be in the range of 3.0 μm to 4.0 μm.

The first supporting assistance member 30 a is positioned in the displayarea, and may be made of the same material as a spacer maintaining theinterval between the lower substrate 110 and the upper substrate 210.

The second supporting assistance member 30 b used to assist the firstsupporting assistance member 30 a may be at least one of an edge lightblocking member preventing light leakage between the pixels and externallight from being incident to the liquid crystal layer, a red colorfilter, a green color filter, and a blue color filter. The thirdsupporting assistance member 30 c may be at least one of: an insulatingmaterial layer and a metal layer such as a gate line and a data linethat are formed in the display area. In an exemplary embodiment, theinsulating material layer may be made of silicon oxide, silicon nitride,or an organic material having a low dielectric ratio such as a gateinsulating layer and a passivation layer. The second supportingassistance member 30 b and the third supporting assistance member 30 cmay be variably formed based on the layer that is formed on the uppersubstrate 210 and the lower substrate 110.

A common electrode, an alignment layer, a light blocking member, aplurality of insulating layers, pixel electrodes, and metal wires may bepositioned on or under the spacer in the display area, the size of thecell gap may be changed according to layers formed at a portion wherethe spacer is positioned, and therefore the second supporting assistancemember 30 b and the third supporting assistance member 30 c may beselectively formed on or under the first supporting assistance member 30a.

A silicon layer may be formed on the inner surface of the supportingassistance member 30. When forming the supporting assistance member 30by etching, the inner surface of the supporting assistance member 30 maybe damaged, however the silicon layer is formed at the damaged portionsuch that the inner surface may be uniform. In exemplary embodiments,the silicon layer may be omitted.

A manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display will be describedwith reference to FIG. 4 as well as FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a manufacturing sequence of a liquidcrystal cell for a liquid crystal display according to an exemplaryembodiment. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of area 50 of FIG. 1 and isdepicted to assist in explaining a manufacturing sequence of a liquidcrystal display according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, lower and upper mother substrates are formed, inoperations S100 and S102, respectively. The upper mother substrate mayinclude a common electrode and a color filter. In exemplary embodiments,the color filter may be formed on the lower mother substrate. The lowermother substrate may include a pixel electrode and a thin filmtransistor corresponding to the common electrode and the color filter ofthe upper mother substrate.

In operation S104, a spacer of cylindrical shape, and a supportingassistance member are formed on one of the upper or lower mothersubstrates through a photolithography process. The supporting assistancemember is positioned at a portion corresponding to the position of alight blocking member formed on the lower or upper mother substrate.

In exemplary embodiments, the supporting assistance member issimultaneously formed with the same material as the spacer and thereforean additional formation process is not required. The spacer and thesupporting assistance member are formed through the photolithographyprocess. Through the photolithography process the pattern size may becontrolled as a micro-unit in comparison with forming the through-hole10 in a sealant, thereby the area occupied by the through-hole 10 may belowered. If the spacer has photosensitivity, it may be patterned byusing a photo-process.

In operation S106 a sealant made of a material to combine the upper andlower mother substrates, to define a region where a liquid crystal isfilled, and to prevent the liquid crystal from leaking is applied. Thesealant may be a light hardening material or a thermal hardeningmaterial.

In operation S108, the liquid crystal is dripped onto the region definedby the sealant to form a liquid crystal layer. In an exemplaryembodiment, the liquid crystal cell may be pre-formed and the liquidcrystal may be inserted into the liquid crystal cell.

In operation S200, the upper and lower mother substrates are combined byaligning and loading the upper and lower mother substrates into a pressapparatus. The sealant hardens to combine the upper and lower mothersubstrates.

The upper and lower mother substrates are cut at cutting lines to dividethe combined upper and lower mother substrates into individual liquidcrystal cells in operation S300.

Referring to FIG. 2, the supporting assistance member 30 is positionedbetween the cutting line C1 and the sealant 310 of the upper substrate210 of the upper panel 200.

In operation S400, a through-hole is formed in the upper substrate andthe lower substrate of the liquid crystal cell. As shown in FIG. 5, thethrough-hole of the substrate is formed by attaching an etching layer 20including an etchant onto the outer surface of the substrates 110 and210. The etching layer 20 is an adhesive film which includes a materialthat has adhesion and etching properties. This material may be made ofan etchant using a hardening resin, a light polymerizing initiator, ahard setting adhesive made of a sensitizer, an organic silicatecompound, and additives.

The etching layer 20 is formed to be positioned at a portioncorresponding to the through-hole 10 of the supporting assistance member30 such that the through-hole of the substrate and the through-hole ofthe supporting assistance member may be connected. Next, a module suchas a camera or a microphone is inserted into the through-hole.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the process of forming thethrough-hole may be simplified and the area occupied by the through-holemay be reduced in comparison with a through-hold formed in just thesealant.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the through-hole of the substrateis formed using an etching layer and advantageously simplifies themanufacturing process.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variation can be made in the present invention withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

1. A liquid crystal display comprising: a first substrate comprising afirst through-hole; a second substrate facing the first substrate andcomprising a second through-hole corresponding to the firstthrough-hole; a sealant coupling the first substrate and the secondsubstrate together; a liquid crystal layer disposed between the firstsubstrate and the second substrate; a spacer disposed between the firstsubstrate and the second substrate; and a supporting assistance membercomprising a third through-hole connected to the first through-hole andthe second through-hole, wherein the supporting assistance membercomprises a first supporting assistance member made of the same materialas the spacer.
 2. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, wherein thesupporting assistance member and the third through-hole aresubstantially cylindrical.
 3. The liquid crystal display of claim 2,wherein a diameter of the third through-hole is in the range of 3.65 mmto 5.65 mm.
 4. The liquid crystal display of claim 3, wherein thediameter of the cylinder is a sum of the diameter of the thirdthrough-hole and a value in the range of 0.5 mm to 0.7 mm.
 5. The liquidcrystal display of claim 1, wherein the supporting assistance member isdisposed between the sealant and a cutting line of the first substrate.6. The liquid crystal display of claim 1, further comprising: a lightblocking member disposed on the first substrate or the second substrateto block light incident to the liquid crystal layer; and a color filterdisposed on the first substrate or the second substrate, wherein thesupporting assistance member further comprises a second supportingassistance member made of the same material as at least one of the lightblocking member and the color filter.
 7. The liquid crystal display ofclaim 6, wherein the supporting assistance member further comprises athird supporting assistance member made of an insulating material or ametal.
 8. A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display,comprising: forming a supporting assistance on a first substrate, thesupporting assistance member comprising a first through-hole; coupling asecond substrate and the first substrate together, the second substratecontacting the supporting assistance member; attaching an etching layerto the first substrate and the second substrate; and forming a secondthrough-hole and a third through-hole in the first substrate and thesecond substrate, respectively, wherein the second through-hole and thethird through-hole are connected to the first through-hole.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the etching layer comprises an etchant foretching the first substrate and the second substrate.
 10. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: forming a sealant on one of the firstsubstrate and the second substrate, wherein the first through-hole isdisposed between the sealant and a cutting line of the first substrate.11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: forming a spacer betweenthe first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the supportingassistance member is formed of a plurality of insulating layers, and atleast one insulating layer is formed with the same material as thespacer.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: forming a lightblocking member on one of the first substrate and the second substrate;and forming a color filter on one of the first substrate and the secondsubstrate, wherein at least one of the insulating layers is formed ofthe same material as at least one of the light blocking member and thecolor filter.
 13. The method of claim 8, further comprising: forming alight blocking member on one of the first substrate and the secondsubstrate; and forming a color filter on one of the first substrate andthe second substrate, wherein the supporting assistance member is formedof a plurality of insulating layers and at least one of the insulatinglayers is formed of the same material as at least one of the lightblocking member and the color filter.
 14. The liquid crystal displayunit of claim 5, wherein the supporting assistance member and the thirdthrough-hole are substantially quadrangular shaped.
 15. The liquidcrystal display unit of claim 14, wherein the supporting assistancemember and the third through-hole are substantially prism shaped.